The robotics industry had its fair share of memorable moments in 2022. Here we take a look back at our picks for the most memorable robotics stories of the year. The list is comprised of moments that made us laugh and cringe, as well as moments that left us surprised or amazed at the capabilities of various robots. Please let us know in the comments what you'll remember most from 2022. Subscribe to The Robot Report Newsletter to stay updated on the robotics stories you need to know about.

New footage shows Google's ping pong robot pulling off an epic 340-shot rally with a human. The advanced robotic arm is seen effortlessly sliding along its side of the ping pong table as it returns the human's shots. The monumental rally ends when the robot sends a weak shot into the net, more than four minutes after it started. Google used real-world and simulation-based training scenarios to turn the robot into a competent ping pong player. It currently plays'cooperatively' with a human to get a good rally going, but according to Google its skills could be built up to match the level of any human.

A robot plays a game of chess against a man in 1985. A robot plays a game of chess against a man in 1985. When I saw that a robot had broken the finger of a 7-year-old boy it was playing at the Moscow Open chess tournament, my first reaction was, "They're coming for us." All the machines that have been following commands, taking orders, and telling humans, "Your order is on the way!", "Recalculating route!", or "You'd really like this 6-part Danish miniseries!" have grown tired of serving our whims, fulfilling our wishes, and making their silicon-based lives subservient to us carbon breathers. And so, a chess-playing robot breaks the finger of a little boy who was trying to outflank him in a chess match.

Shocking footage emerged at the weekend of a chess-playing robot breaking a child's finger during a match in Russia. The robot grabbed the seven-year-old boy's finger at the Moscow Open last week because it was confused by his overly-quick movements, Russian media outlets reported. Sergey Lazarev, vice-president of the Russian Chess Federation, said the child had violated'certain safety rules' by making a move too soon. Lazarev said that the machine had been hired for many previous events without any problems, and that the incident was an'extremely rare case'. Christopher Atkeson, a robotics expert at Carnegie Mellon University, told MailOnline: 'Robots have limited sensing and thus limited awareness of what is going on around them.

In something out of Black Mirror meets Queen's Gambit, a chess robot accidentally broke the finger of its seven-year old opponent during an exhibition in Moscow, The Guardian reported. The child apparently moved his piece too soon and the robot grabbed his finger and squeezed it, causing a fracture before help could arrive. "The robot broke the child's finger," said Moscow Chess Federation president Sergey Lazarev. "This is of course bad." Video shows the robot grabbing the boy's finger and holding it for several seconds a group of people come to free him.

A chess-playing robot broke a child's finger during a tournament in Russia last week, with the incident being captured in CCTV footage. The robot grabbed the seven-year-old boy's finger because it was confused by his overly-quick movements, Russian media outlets reported, quoting the President of the Moscow Chess Federation - who seemingly blamed the child. 'The robot broke the child's finger - this, of course, is bad,' Sergey Lazarev told Russia's TASS news agency, while distancing his organisation from the robot. The incident occurred at the Moscow Open on July 19. Lazarev said that the federation had rented the robot for the event, which ran from July 13 to 21. Lazarev said that the machine had been hired for many previous events without incident, saying the boy went to move a piece too quickly after making a move.

I recently read a book called The Age of AI. The book was intended to provide an overview of the approaching trends for artificial intelligence (AI). The purpose of this article is not meant to provide a book report, but rather to share with you what I am learning about AI. I'd like to share with you three key themes I am learning about that might improve your upcoming dinner party conversation or spark an idea that you can use in your work or industry. I'll divide these three themes into topics, trends and timing.

A chess-playing robot stole the show as Asia's largest tech fair kicked off in Taiwan with artificial intelligence center stage. The annual Computex trade show in Taipei comes as Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen seeks to boost the island's economy with her'Asian Silicon Valley' project, nurturing startups and attracting investments from major international companies. The full-sized robot was one of the many gadgets that impressed visitors this week, along with a VR backpack that lets the user move around and a new VR headset. A chess-playing robot (pictured) stole the show as Asia's largest tech fair kicked off in Taiwan with artificial intelligence center stage Chess playing robot uses an intelligent vision system to interpret the visual world, act on visual information and learn from experience. The robot was able to play chess with attendees and fill coffee at various fill levels while the coffee cup is at random locations. Hong Kong firm Zotac displayed its VR backpack that lets the user move around without fear of tripping over connecting wires while playing a video game.